Is HIIT Good for You?

You’ve probably heard of HIIT or read about it on the web. Maybe you even have friends or co-workers who are into this kind of workout and recommending it to you. But is it good for you and will it help your physical activities? Before you decide to do any of this, you should learn as much about it as possible.

What is HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)?

HITT is a high intensity training system involving short but intense burst of workouts to be followed by short periods of rest. Because of this type of workout, your heartrate is kept up, leading to greater fat and calorie burning. There are a lot of ways HIIT can be defined, but the simplest is that it refers to workouts of a high intensity.

Common Routines of HIIT

There are a lot of workout routines for HIIT, but we’re going to focus on running here.

1. Start by accelerating 100 meters twice.

2. Run 40 meters at your maximum speed with a couple of minutes of jogging and walking between them.

3. As your body gets used to this, ramp it up to 6 x 150 meters, running at top speeds at 80 meters and 4 minutes of walking and jogging in-between. After a while, you can boost this to 10 x 150 meters.

4. Once you’re comfortable with the above, increase the distance to 300 meters. When you get to 300 meters, run at top speed for the duration except for a minute of walking or jogging.

Check out also the video below so you can start to ‘HIIT’ the Ground Runnning! 🙂

Running on trails makes it more challenging. Try running on different trails, grass, paths and so on. You can use the same techniques given above, but owing to the different terrain, on a reduced scale. It’s going to require more out of you, but it’s going to improve your athleticism and agility. At the same time, HIIT training on trails enhances your coordination, speed, and power.

For Off-road HIIT training, begin with a moderate intensity level, 20-minute run with five 30-second pickups. Give your body time to get used to this and then increase the speed bursts to 60 seconds ten times. Increase your run time to 40 minutes as well.

From this point, you can increase the sessions up to 5 cycles with 90 seconds of jogging and 30 seconds of running full speed. Follow this with ten cycles of running hard for a full minute and taking it easy the following minute. Alternate this for the duration of your session.

Is it Good for Runners? DEFINITELY!

Yes, it is!

Running using the HIIT method improves your cardiovascular strength and allows more oxygen to get to your body. This type of workout also enhances your muscles’ ability to use oxygen, allowing you to run faster and quicker.

The bottom line is high-intensity interval training allows your muscles to move in a wide range of motion. This also improves your body’s coordination, in particular, the muscles and nervous system, all of which is going to make you a better runner.